Manufacture of gas



'March 17, 1925. 1,530,281

J. L. MURRIE I MANUFACTURE OF GAS Filed July 1923 lNVliNTOR J olm. 65757Murr/o B Y Giza-41 lfnan' d 7 A TTORNE y Yonkers, in the county ofpatgnted Mar. 17, 1925.

v illuminating gas.

FUNITIED *STATE s PATENT. OFFICE;

. JOHN LESTER momma, or xonxnns, NEW YORK.

MANUFACTURE 01 GAS.

Application filed. July 26,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN Lns'rnn Momma, a citizen of the United States,residing at Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Gas, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to the formation of gas suitable for light, heatand power purposes directly from coal by its combination withsuperheated steam at a high temperature.

I have found that when coal in a finely pulverized condition is mixedwith superheated steam in a suitably proportioned coil and submitted toa high temperature the Volatile hydrocarbons in the coal are set freeand disassociated by the heat into their hydrogen and carbon which themixture is submitted, thus forming fixed gases of a high B. t. u. value,which can be used, after, purification by washing, as a fuel gas andpossibly as an If finely powdered coal and superheated steam are mixedin a confined space and subjected to a high temperature, the action isviolent and explosive in' character, being substantiallyinstantaneous,-but bymaking the space in which the action takes place ofa gradually expanding form, the action takes place. more slowly andprogressively.

My invention relates to a process for manufacturing gas as indicatedabove, also to a suitable apparatus for carrying out the process in anadvantageous manner.

Other features of novelty will'be apparent from the following detaileddescription and the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of one form of apparatus.used in connection with a steam boiler to utilize the high furnace heatof the sam Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of one form of device forfeeding pulverized coal other form of feeding apparatus." I x and 2branch pipe 15 1923. Serial No. 654,042.

Figure 3 is a vertical section of a form of type in which are employedwater tubes 1,

a water and steam drum 2, combustion chamber 3, a boiler setting f, asuperheater 5 and smoke flue 5*.

- In the formshown, the boiler is fired with pulverized coal by means ofthe apparatus C in whicha pulverizer 7 is driven by an. electric motor11. The coal is fed to the pulverizer 7 from a hopper 10 which in turnreceives the coal from a bunker or other container 12 through a pipe 13rovided with a valve or cut-0E i l for contro ing the supply of coal.The pulverizedcoal is delivered from the pulverizer 7 to the combustionchamber through the flue 8 and tuyere 9.

The combustion of the pulverized coal in the combustion chambergenerates highly heated gases which generate steam in' the boiler. Ofcourse, as hereinafter set forth, any other form of heating the boileror other chamber may be employed.

In the combustion chamber is located a pipe coil 6 which is preferablymade tapering as shown, increasing gradually in area from its inlet endto a much larger area at it's outlet end, as shown in Figures 1 and 3.The shape, size and arrangement of the coil may be varied as desired,but it should always increase in area to obtain the best results andenable the combination to take place more or less gradually anduniformly.

The inlet end of the coil 6 extends outside of the boiler setting and isconnected to the pulverized coal and steam feeding mechanism D ofFigures 1 and 2 or D of Figure This feeding mechanismmay be of variousforms, two of As shown in Figure 2 it consists of a cylinder 18 in whichis enclosed a worm 19 which fits the interior of the cylinder closelyand which can be rotated at any desired speed by means of the variablespeed motor which is connected to the shaft 41 of the worm 19. From themain pulverized coalfeed 8 a diverts a portion of the pulthe hopper 17from which it 40* to the cylinder 18. The

verized coal to is fed by a plpe relative amounts of coal which pass tothe 'eombustion chamber and to the hopper 17 are/varied by an adjustabledamper 51 lowhich are illustrated. a

cated at the juncture of the pipes 8 and 15. The force of the pulverizeris sufficient to deliver the pulverized coal through the conduit as.well as through the pipe 8 to the combustion chamber. The flow of thecoal through the pipe 15 may further be controlled by a valve 31.

The outlet 40 for the coal from the cylinder 18 is connected to thesteam jet box 20 which in turn is connected to the inlet end of the coil6. A steam pipe 21 for delivering a jet of superheated steam is placedaxially in the steam jet box 20, and is connected to the superheater 5by-pipes 22, 24 and 23, which are controlled by valves 26, 27, 28, 29and 30. A pipe 23 from the steam space 23 in the waterand steam drum 2communicates with the superheater.

The outlet end of coil 6 is connected by pipe 32 controlled by valve 33to a discharge pipe 34 located within the water 37 in a tank 36 of a gasholder B which also comprises a bell having its lower end submerged inthe Water 37. A gas outlet p1pe 38 controlled by valve 39 connects theinterior of the bell to a desired outside point.

The process is carried out in the above described apparatus as followsThe finely pulverized coal is fed from the pulverizer into the boilerfurnace 3 where complete combustion takes place and the furnace isheated to a high temperature. The expanding coil 6 is thereby heated toapproximately the same temperature. When the coil 6 is properly heatedsuperheated steam is admitted in a controlled amount, through jet 21 andat the same time, by the revolution of the screw 19 the desired amountof pulverized coal is fed from hopper 17 through pipe 40, screw 19 andpipe 40 into the space in tube 20 surrounding the steam jet 21. Thesuction created by the jet of steam issuing from the jet nozzle at highvelocity draws with itthe pulverized coal which is instantaneously mixedwith the steam, the mixture passing into expanding coil 6 where, owingto the high temperature to which it is submitted, the particles of thepulverized coal are split up into their component units of carbon,hydrogen, and oxygen, and the steam is also disassociated into itscomponent units of hydrogen and oxygen. As these free intermingled unitsof carbon, hydrogen and oxygen pass through the expandingcoil 6, theyrecombine and form a gas of high B. t. 11. value. Due to the increasingvolume of the coil 6 this action takes place gradually and the gasbecomes a saturated fixed gas which passes through the pipes 32 and 34and passes up through the water in tank 36.

No coking action takes place and there is no coke residue. The smallamount of ash that is formed passes through with the gas and is washedout by the water in the gas tank or by any other suitable means. Thewashed gas may be drawn off from the bell 35 for any desired purpose.

The process is continuous and may becan ried out so long as thepulverized coal and the superheated steam are fed in the rightproportions into coil 6. This is regulated by the steam control valve30, the valves 31 and 51, and the speed of the feed screw 19.

Qne important features of this process is the employment of an expandingcoil whereby the gas formation is permitted to take place gradually andprogressively and not explosively as would be the case if the pulverizedcoal and superheated steam were allowed to mix is a small confined spaceat high temperature.

In Figure 3 a furnace E has walls 41 and 42 provided with an expandingcoil 6 and pulverized coal injecting apparatus similar to that ofFigures 1 and 2. This furnace is fired by a gas or oil burner 48, thegas or oil being fed through pipe 44 controlled by a valve 46 and theair being fed through pipe 45 controlled by Valve 47. The heated gasesfrom the furnace pass through outlet flue 42 provided with a controldamper 43. The action of this furnace is similar to that alreadydescribed.

A modified form of feeding apparatus is disclosed in Figure 2 andcomprises a drum 18 interposed between the hopper 17 and the outlet pipe40.. In this drum there rotates a member 4* having arms 19 the ends ofwhich clear the walls of the drum 18 forming pockets 19 which carry .thecoal from the hopper 17 to the pipe 40. In other respects the mechanismresembles that already described, and it is obvious that the feedingmechanism D may be used with the furnace shown in Figure 1 or with thatshown in Figure 3. For that matter, other forms of feeding mechanismsmay be used with other forms of furnaces, so long as certain essentialfeatures are present. v

It will be noted that the process is carried out with the practicalexclusion of air or any oxygen except that obtained by the decompositionof the constitutents. The feeding arrangement shown in Figure 2particularly substantially prevents the enis limited to that resultingfrom the break ing down of the coal and the steam.

Obviously certain modifications may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention, and the cocess itself is independent of anyspecih apparatus. The invention is therefore to be regarded as limitedonly by the scope of the appended B. t. u. value direct from solidcarbonaceclaims. ous material which comprises finely pul- I claim as myinvention: verizing the material, mixing it with super- 1. The processof forming a gas of high heated steam, and exposing the mixture to 16 5B. t. u. value direct from solid carbonace a high temperature in agradually expandous material which comprises finely puli'ng coil wlththe substantial exclusion of verizing the materialfmixing it withsuperair or extraneous oxygen. heated steam, and exposing the mixture toIn testimony hereof -I aflix my signaa' high temperature in a coil Whosevolume ture.

1" gradually increases from end to end.

2. The process of forming a gas of high JOHN LESTEB-MURRIE.

